executive in his full-service studio as he is traipsing around Manhattan shooting black-and-white slides, or in Antarctica, or perhaps Bhutan, going where few have gone before and bringing back his own unique trophies: rare scenes of stunning nature and native people.
"I always knew I was going to live a life of adventure," says Daryl, "but I had no idea how that was going to turn out." Raised in Westport, he never ventured much farther than his family's New Hampshire summer camp as a boy, where he learned to love nature. It was his grandparents who fitted his eye behind the viewfinder, in the form of a Polaroid camera when he was twelve. "The whole idea of taking a photo, looking at it and putting it in a scrapbook. knowing that |
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that would be there for eternity, fascinated me," says Daryl.
After he graduated from Staples High School in 1975, never having heard of Jack Kerouac, Daryl went on the road, on his first great journey. Armed with camping gear, his manual Nikon SLR and a spirit of adventure, he took off in a 1971 Chevy Impala station wagon for points west. "I was free as the wind, could come and go as I wanted, having all these adventures," he recalls. " Experience as a camper taught me not only how to be in the woods, but how to overcome loneliness and fear of the unknown."
And yet he chose to go to Connecticut College, in New London."Daryl says. "I never considered going away to college," Daryl says. "I love New England, I love it |
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as a home base." At school he took photography courses and flirted with the idea of becoming a writer, but worried about making a living at it. "Besides," he says, "I always loved photography best."
After college he learned the art and science of studio photography by setting up lights and working alongside mentors. He also fell in love. "It sounds a little corny, but it's true," he begins. "I was at a country fair with a friend, and heidi was, too. We were both just walking around and made eye contact. For me it was love at first sight," he says with a slow grin. " She took a little longer."
They found a place to live in the Old Mill Beach area of Westport. In a neat flash of synchronicity, she was working on the business side of Popular Photography |
